Patients’ data safe with digital health records system, Tufton assures
Vanassa McKenzie / Our Today
Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton says there will be ongoing assessments to ensure that patient’s information are kept safely, following the rollout of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) System at the May Pen Hospital on Thursday, January 11.
“The question will be asked what about confidentiality, in the age of technology there is a lot of risk around how data is stored. That has been thought through. There is no fool proof system but there is enough checks and balances and an ongoing assessment to ensure that personal data is kept, and kept safely,” Tufton said.
He was speaking at Thursday’s launch of the EHR System at the May Pen Hospital, the first of 13 health centres and hospitals across the island to get the digital system.
The EHR system allows medical doctors to access patient’s medical history, including demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, past medical history, among others.
Tufton has hailed Thursday’s launch as an important milestone in providing comprehensive healthcare to patients.
“It’s an important milestone because it delivers equitable comprehensive and quality healthcare for the people of Jamaica and makes reliable and modern infrastructure available to our health system. Anticipation has been growing as various stakeholders have waited to see this since the signing of the contract back in February 2023 in the health system strengthening programme and, therefore, we are very happy to announce the eCare programme, that’s the name you are to get used to unveiled shortly,” the health minister said.
The EHR system reflects features such as patient registration system for appointment setting and assignment of patients in the triage process, enabling doctors to see X-rays and CT scans on computers and tablets, as well as uploading and sharing healthcare dockets within the system.
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